When Janice Israelson receives a letter from Cheryl Kryshak, she opens it right away and takes out her magnifying glass.
Kryshak’s handwriting is so small that, despite never needing glasses, Israelson, 89, has to use a magnifying glass to read it.
The letters, all written on the same small stationery, arrive at Israelson’s home in Palm Desert about every 10 days. Kryshak will receive a traditional — and “full-size” — letter from Israelson about three days later.
“My pen-pal is, like, so responsive,” Kryshak says. “When we came up to Wisconsin, the first piece of mail I got was a letter from Janice.”
Kryshak, 64, and Israelson started writing to each other because of the pandemic, but hope their correspondence will last long after it passes.
Though they'd both been going to The Joslyn Center in Palm Desert all winter long, they never met before becoming pen-pals.
Kryshak taught chair yoga. Israelson played Mahjong. The two were connected by The Joslyn Center during shelter-in-place this past spring as part of the center’s effort to provide services and community among its senior members.
The Joslyn Center serves individuals, age 50 and older, in Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage and beyond.
Since the pandemic forced their doors to close, Joslyn Center staff and volunteers have sought new ways to connect with the area’s seniors. One of those ways was by starting a pen-pal and letter-writing program.
“I like to talk. I like to write. And, I thought, it might be kind of fun to be in the house and have a new friend,” Israelson says.
Kryshak was sheltering-in-place in Palm Desert when she and Israelson started writing, but now Kryshak is back in her part-time residence in Wisconsin — for the summer.
The two are hoping to be able to meet in person when Kryshak returns to the desert this winter.
"I can’t wait to meet her — she seems like such a hoot," Kryshak says of Israelson. "This COVID thing better be done by the time I get back."
Israelson has watched some of Kryshak’s yoga classes on The Joslyn Center’s YouTube page.
“She’s adorable,” Israelson says, noting that Kryshak is about her daughter’s age. “She writes and she wants to know all about my life — she wanted to know about my kids. We’ve become great pen-pals.”
Before the pandemic, Israelson would get dressed up, put on makeup and a wig and hit the town.
In addition to stopping at The Joslyn Center twice a week, she’d go to the country club, go out to eat and, of course, play Mahjong four times a week. Now, away from her children and friends, Israelson depends mostly on her helper who lives across the street.
She’s used to being busy — used to being social, so her exchange with Kryshak means a lot.
“It’s helping me because it’s really giving me something to do — I just love it,” Israelson says.
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Seniors were already at a high risk of experiencing social isolation before the pandemic.
Nearly one-fourth of adults age 65 and older are considered socially isolated, according to a report released this year by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Individuals in this age group are at an increased risk because it is more likely they are living alone, have lost friends and family members, and/or experience chronic illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This is why it’s important places like The Joslyn Center continue doing outreach.
“We try to get in touch with every person,” says Veronica Stevens, who works at the Wellness Center at The Joslyn Center.
The staff, she says, calls to check-in on members. They make sure that the seniors are OK, ask if they need anything and, when necessary, connects them with resources.
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While many people she calls seem totally fine, Stevens says that some are having trouble as ongoing restrictions put in place by local and state officials to curb the spread of the pandemic are starting to affect them.
“Since I’m in the same situation, I can definitely understand — we just start talking and by the time we’re done talking, we each feel lighter and just glad that we had the conversation,” she says.
These conversation, she adds, have made her realize just how important having someone listen to you — someone to hear you — is to your emotional well-being.
Louise Hughes, 90, is just one of many seniors who receives these calls each week.
“I’m confined to my casita and I have no friends and it’s really tough,” says Hughes, who moved to Rancho Mirage last year to be with her two sons and their families. Before that, she had lived her whole life in the Bay Area.
As soon as she started going to The Joslyn Center, Hughes started taking Italian lessons, conditioning classes and sharing lunches with her peers. Now, she says, she feels lonely.
“I need people my own age to talk with,” she says. “I really miss it.”
Hughes receives two phone calls a week — one from someone from The Joslyn Center and another through a program with AARP.
Though she believes her family is being a little strict with her by keeping her home all the time, she says she understands they are trying to protect her from possibly contracting COVID-19.
“I’m really afraid to be in any kind of crowd,” Hughes says. One son goes to the grocery store for her and the other takes her to her doctor’s appointments.
“Now even my doctor doesn’t want to see me — I have to talk to him through the computer!”
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Hughes is grateful for her family but is missing her life in San Francisco.
She’s had to leave her friends — and her lifelong dentist — behind. It was already a difficult adjustment without the pandemic.
“Friends are important and their companionship is important — and I miss it,” she says. “I do shed a tear sometimes, but that’s normal.”
Since moving to Rancho Mirage, she says that three of her friends from back home have died.
“We miss the people — the camaraderie of the people that are there (at The Joslyn Center),” echoes Silver Martin, 82. “They’re always helpful and you don’t feel alone.”
Martin has been involved with the center for decades and calls it her “safety net.”
Right now she is interested in “Brain Bootcamp” — a program offered by the center that teaches participants lifestyle strategies and tools to help them with everyday memory loss.
“Brain Bootcamp” is one of the in-person programs the center has successfully transitioned to online.
Veronica Stevens says that most seniors are pretty tech-savvy when it comes to video conferencing apps, such as Zoom. Still, for those who aren't, the center offers resources to help people learn how to use them.
And, for those who want more old-fashioned communication, there are volunteers who are busy writing letters and postcards to lonely or bored seniors.
Ann Cooper, a member of The Joslyn Center, has been sending postcards from all over the world to her fellow seniors.
As a former member of a postcard club, she says, she has a backlog of unused postcards.
“I write a little bit about my experience there (wherever the postcard is from) and, in the end, I try and say that they should stay positive and look at the joyful things in our world,” she says.
Cooper, who has been surrounded by family and is busy with projects during the pandemic, says she can’t imagine being alone right now and wants to find a way to help those who are.
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“I try and brighten their day and make life a little joyful for them,” she says.
Prior to the pandemic, The Joslyn Center had almost 2,200 members, but, in May, that number decreased to 1,850.
Membership, though, is not a requirement to receive services or participate in online classes or community discussions.
The center is open to receiving phone calls from anyone who wants to chat during their business hours. More information is available on the center’s website and Facebook page.
Maria Sestito covers aging and the senior population in Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun. She is also a Report for America corps member and new to the desert. Please say "hello" via maria.sestito@desertsun.com or @RiaSestito.
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